


Sinking

by rhetoricalrogue



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Complete, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 08:03:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7927030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhetoricalrogue/pseuds/rhetoricalrogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They really ought to stop using the other for bait on contracts.  A follow-up story to Mushrooms and Hellebore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place a little over a year after [Mushrooms and Hellebore](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5119997). I got inspired by several Waterhouse paintings of water nymphs and was listening to Florence + the Machine's _Lungs_ album on repeat while writing this.

“I can’t believe this is all you do when you go out on jobs,” Marle teased, looking out at the scenery in front of them. “We’ve been riding for days and haven’t come across much other than a few pockets of drowners.”

“Well, some of us aren’t gifted with creating portals to get where we want to go quickly, and we wouldn’t have even come across those drowners if you hadn’t insisted we stop to harvest those herbs you spotted.” Eskel raised an eyebrow and jerked his thumb behind his shoulder.   “We did pass a village a few miles ago. If you’re that bored already, I bet they wouldn’t mind hosting a healer until I get back.”

She looked at him sharply, shaking her head when she noticed the corner of his mouth quirking up in a smirk. “Oh no you don’t, Eskel. You can’t get rid of me _that_ easily. I seem to recall _you_ were the one to ask _me_ to come along on this trip.”

His smile widened. “You would have followed me otherwise.”

Sitting taller in the saddle, she gave him a look. “I would not,” she countered, raising her chin. “I have plenty of other things to occupy my time than to travel with a witcher who is _obviously_ unimpressed with his sorceress companion.” The haughty glare lasted all but half a second before her lips quivered and she laughed.

“You’re going to have to work on your indignant tone if you want that to be convincing,” Eskel told her, humor evident in his voice as he slowed Scorpion down once they approached a farmstead. “We’re here.” Eskel helped Marle off her horse before the two of them walked up to the main house. The door creaked open before he could knock and a woman’s face peered out suspiciously at them.

“Were you the one who put out the contract?” he asked.

The woman looked between them both and nodded. “I am,” she said, stepping outside. Marle might not have the keen senses that Eskel did, but she still heard a young child coughing from inside the house. It took everything in her not to say something, especially when the child coughed again and she could hear the phlegmy rattle in the loud inhalation of breath afterward.

Eskel seemed to sense her concern, because he took a step forward. “I’m Eskel, this is Marle. We’d like to get some details from you, if you’d allow us to come inside.”

The woman gave them both a nervous glance before jerking her chin in a curt nod. “Katya. I don’t have much,” she started, “but please, sit down.”

Marle decided to pipe up. “That’s an awful cough I hear,” she said quietly. She held up her left hand to display the amulet she had wrapped around her wrist. “I’m a healer with the Temple of Melitele. If you allow me, I can see to whoever is sick while you speak with Eskel.”

Katya looked at her with a shocked expression before bursting into tears. “Forgive me,” she sobbed, burying her face in her hands. “It’s been such a hard time; I’ve only just buried my man and I’ve been so afraid that I’d have to bury my boy so soon after. I’ve been praying for a miracle, but I never believed my prayers would be answered.”

Eskel watched as Marle soothed the woman and followed her to another room. He could hear her speaking in low yet cheerful tones to a young boy, who answered as best he could between wheezes.   He could also hear Marle quietly question Katya about the contract, so he took the opportunity to look out the window and observe the small homestead, trying to see if he could infer what sort of monster he was going to be dealing with. The contract itself hadn’t been very clear; all it had said was that there was something roaming about killing farmhands. There was plenty of land, but it looked as if it hadn’t been used to its full potential; while what was there was thriving, the fields that should have been full of crops were mostly bare. The wheat planted there was extremely high and what had been cut still needed to be bundled and stored away properly.

“Is there no one here with you?” he asked once she and Marle came back out. Marle made herself at home, filling a kettle before putting it on the hearth to boil. She then went back outside and started digging through her saddlebags until she came back with the pack of herbs she had been collecting while they traveled.

Katya shook her head sadly. “We used to have a prosperous farm.” Pointing outside towards a smaller house, she continued. “There was a man and his wife who helped my Nevin with the land and the animals, but he was one of the many who fell prey to the beast. After his death, his wife walked away with nary a goodbye. She left many of their belongings behind, saying they were cursed.”

“You said the farmhand was one of the many,” Eskel prompted. “How many men have died, and where?”

“There have been six total, counting my husband just last week. Nevin was the one who posted the notice after the second drowning, but no one has come by before you.” She took a breath and twisted her fingers in her lap. “There’s a large pond a mile away that’s always been good for fishing. One of the lads from the village was found floating face down on the surface. Everyone thought it was a horrible accident, but there weren’t any signs of a struggle or marks in the bank where he may have tried to claw his way back up. Two weeks later, one of our shepherds told another that he was going to fill up canteens while they were in the area. His friend found him dead, heard what sounded like a girl laughing too, but never saw anyone. That pond is evil, I say. Every one of those poor souls lost their lives there.”

Eskel tilted his head. “And before this, has there been any trouble around the pond?”

Katya watched as Marle found a large bowl and began crushing up herbs inside of it. “No, none. This land has always been good to us, and we’ve done our best to do good by it in return. Our farm isn’t as large as some others in the area, but we’ve always treated our workers well.”

“And most of your workers were men?” Eskel absently rubbed at the scar on his chin as he looked back out to the vacant fields, his mind going through possible suspects. “And the victims, did any of them happen to be married?”

“Yes all of them, save for the first boy. After the fourth drowning, the rest of the workers began to leave, fearing that they may fall prey next.” Katya jumped when the kettle began to whistle. Marle pulled it off the fire and held the bowl in her other hand.

“I can make a syrup that will quiet your son’s coughing,” she explained. “But in the meanwhile, I have a breathing treatment to help clear his lungs. Please, keep talking to Eskel, this won’t take long.”

Eskel watched as Marle went back into the room. It wasn’t long before the scent of the herbs intensified; he guessed she had poured the boiling water over them and had the boy breathe the steam in. Vesemir had done similar treatments to him and Geralt when they had gotten sick as young boys. He could hear Marle murmur comfortingly at the boy while she rubbed at his back.

Getting up from his seat, Eskel looked out the window again at the neglected field. “What you’re describing certainly sounds like a rusalka that’s gone rogue. This month is a prime time for them to be at the most active as well, but I highly doubt that it will show up if I head to the pond and order it to appear.” He rubbed at his chin thoughtfully, his fingers catching on the dips of his scars. “I’m going to have to set a trap. Is the scythe you have for the wheat sharp?”

Katya nodded. “Aye. My man kept his tools in good working order.”

“And you said that the foreman’s house is abandoned? Would it be all right if Marle and I used it until the job is complete?”

Katya looked confused, but nodded anyway. “When will you start?”

“As soon as I can get the horses and our things settled.”

“The barn has stalls for your horses. There’s hay and water buckets there too.”

Eskel turned from the window and smiled. “Thank you. If things go the way I expect them to, you won’t have us as guests for long. When Marle is done tending your son, could you tell her where I went?” With that, he went outside and took both horses’ reins and led them into the barn. As promised, there were clean stalls and a supply of grain for each. Eskel tended the horses, taking his time to unsaddle and brush them both out before fishing an apple out of his saddlebag and cutting it in half with his dagger for both horses to share. Giving Scorpion’s head an affectionate scritch behind the ears, he shouldered both his and Marle's belongings and headed towards the small house nearby.

The interior of the place was tiny, but homey. There was a main sitting area that housed a pair of chairs close to a fireplace, the abbreviated kitchen stationed nearby. There wasn’t a door on the next room, but Eskel could make out a nice sized bed, the sheets crisply made and a warm blanket folded at the footboard.

He set their bags down on top of it. There was only one bed. He didn’t figure that he would get much sleep anyway with waiting to see if the ruslaka would show up that night, but he wondered if Marle would mind sharing it. Ever since the katakan hunt and the kiss she had given him a little over a year ago – not to mention the drugged confession of love she had murmured before passing out – their friendship had slowly turned into something more.

Hell, if Eskel was honest with himself, their friendship had been turning towards this for decades. He’d just been too worried to muddy it up with feelings that went beyond friendly overtures.

He was distracted from his thoughts by the front door opening. Even without turning around, the soft floral scent that always clung to Marle told him who it was.

“Katya told me you were settling down here,” she said, looking around the home. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I got some more information out of her. The rusalka is preying specifically on married men, workers from this farm almost specifically. I’m going to act as if I’ve been hired on in the hopes that it’ll take the bait and come out.”

Marle tilted her head, eyes widening in understanding. “Oh.” Without saying anything else, she knelt at the hearth. A flick of her fingers had the remnants of the wood there flare to life.

Sensing her distress, he put a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to do anything,” he assured her. “I…”

She laughed. “You don’t have much experience being married, do you?” She added another few slivers of wood to the fire and looked up at him. “I’m not against the idea of playing your wife, it just took me by surprise is all.” She rose and began to look through the supplies in the pantry. Just as Katya had said, all the dry goods were still in place, almost as if the foreman’s wife would return at any time.

Eskel shed his armor and weapons, placing everything underneath the wooden bedframe. “I’m going to see to the wheat field. The day’s still young enough that I can cut the rest and start gathering them up for drying before nightfall.”

Marle nodded. “Then I’ll get to preparing lunch.” She reached up and gently tucked Eskel’s medallion under the neckline of his shirt, her fingers lingering over his chest a little longer than necessary. “I’ll call for you once it’s ready.”

The rest of the morning and early afternoon passed quickly. While the small loaf of bread Marle had made was baking, she discovered a small wooden table underneath a tree directly outside their borrowed house,  Since the day was nice, she decided to set their lunch up there. There hadn’t been many fresh things in the house’s cold cellar, but Marle already had a hunk of meat slowly simmering in a cast iron pot on a hook over the fire for dinner. She’d scavenged up some fruit preserves and honey from the pantry, so along with the freshly baked loaf of bread, a selection of fruits, slices of cheese and dried meats from their travel staples, she had conjured up a pretty satisfying lunch. The two of them had lingered under the tree’s shade, their conversation as easy as it had always been.  She noticed that Eskel had added in a little more flirtatious banter than he usually did, more than likely for the rusalka's benefit to lure it out of hiding faster, but she didn't mind. Marle had to smile at the slightly surprised way Eskel had looked up at her when she bent over and kissed his cheek, her lips brushing against the corner of his mouth. It was only for a moment, but he quickly recovered, helping her bring the dishes back into the house, his hand quickly bringing hers to his lips to kiss her knuckles.

There wasn’t much for her to do after washing and drying the dishes from lunch, so after tidying up, tending to dinner and checking in on Katya’s son, Marle found herself wandering into the field to help Eskel tie the cut wheat into sheaves. The sense of domesticity that fell over them as the day went on was something Marle hadn’t felt in years. She welcomed the sensation, even as it left her feeling out of sorts and slightly bittersweet.

“So, did anything happen that you noticed today?” Marle asked, lighting candles in the candelabra that hung over the small dining table.

Eskel unhooked the pot from the fire and used a nearby padded potholder to lift the lid once he had the pot on a metal trivet on the dining table. Taking the bowls and a ladle Marle handed him, he served them up generous portions, closing his eyes to appreciate the mouthwatering smell of stew. “A few good signs,” he said, setting the bowls on the table and turning to take the cutting board with thick slices of bread Marle must have made earlier that day as Marle pulled out a bottle of wine from their food pack he remembered them picking up in the last village they had made a supply run in. “My medallion buzzed a few times after lunch, and I could have sworn I heard a woman laugh right before sundown.” He’d also glimpsed the faintest reflection of a woman in the bucket of water before he had upended it over his head to cool off as the sun beat down on him. He had figured that they would have to stay for a few days, but this initial contact was promising. It had been several days since the ruslaka’s last victim; she seemed to be eager to add him to her pond.

He tucked into the stew. “This is really good.”

Marle smiled, absently stirring her portion with her spoon. “Thank you. It’s a recipe I learned in Skellige. It was…” she stopped, setting the spoon aside and reaching for a slice of bread, fingers busy tearing at it. “It was a favorite.” The venison she’d found in the cellar downstairs had been a tougher cut of meat and her hands had automatically started assembling the stew on their own, old habits taking over without her having to think about it.

They ate in companionable silence, broken only by light conversation on the day’s events and observations about the farm. Eskel surprised her by clearing the dishes and pumping water into the basin, saying that it wasn’t fair for the cook to also clean. For June, the weather was uncharacteristically cool, and without anything else to do for the evening, Marle sat closer to the fireplace and tugged a shawl she had found in a chest by the bed over her shoulders.

Eskel sat in the opposite chair, pretending to read the book he had pulled from his pack while watching as Marle unbound her hair and began running a comb through it, quietly humming a song underneath her breath as she worked.

“You’re staring,” she teased.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with your hair like that before,” he confessed.

“I don’t like having it in my face, especially when it comes to mixing up potions or tending patients. I should cut it, but I’d miss the length.” She started to separate her hair in preparation for braiding it down her back, but since Eskel was still staring, decided at the last minute to keep it unbound. “A woman has to have at least _one_ point of vanity.”

“It’s…different.” In all the years that he’d known her, he’d seen her style her hair in multiple variations of braids, buns, and ponytails, but he’d never seen it down and around her shoulders. She’d taken off her vest and her boots some time ago, and seeing her sitting there at the fireside with her hair loose and feet bare next to him felt… _homey_. Domestic.

“Do you remember your parents?” he asked abruptly, closing the book and setting it on an end table.

Marle’s comb slowed down. “Not really. I was nine when I went to the Academy, and travel wasn’t very feasible with trying to run their shop. We exchanged plenty of letters though, and they were always pleasant and things that I looked forward to reading, I do remember that.” She worked a tangle out. “I remember little things: my father always smelled like celandine and tobacco. He would take me out with him sometimes, teaching me how to identify different plants in the wild. My mother used to sing while she sewed and she gave the warmest hugs.”

Eskel crossed his ankles and stared into the fire. “I don’t remember much about my mother, just some snippets of an old song she used to sing. Vesemir told me once that she had dark hair and brown eyes, and that we had looked very similar.”

“People used to say the same about my mother and me.”

“Then she must have been very beautiful.”

Marle set the comb in her lap. “Why the sudden questions about my parents?” she asked, looking up at him.

Eskel shrugged. “You seemed very…” he struggled for the right words. “ _Comfortable_ today. I figured that you remembered how your parents acted together when we were out there…”

“Pretending to be married?” she supplied. She shook her head. “I may be out of practice, but I do have some firsthand experience on how to act like a wife.”

Eskel stared up at her as she rose and closed the shutters to the windows, a hand absently waving over the candles near the sill to extinguish their flames. “You…you’re _married_?” It was a first for him, and he suddenly had a hundred questions buzzing in his head: who is he, how did they meet, and most importantly, if she was married, why did she lead him to believe that she was available?

Marle held the shawl tighter around her. “I _was_ married. My husband’s been gone nearly fifty years now.” She took advantage of their swapped height difference and pressed a kiss to Eskel’s forehead, her fingers carding through his hair at the back of his head. “I’m tired. Come to bed when you’re ready.”

He listened to the swish of fabric and laces as she undressed, the ropes in the mattress creaking ever so slightly as her weight settled onto the bed. A casual wave of his hand extinguished the last of the candles and he poked at the fire to settle the coals so that it would still burn through the night and warm up the home without needing constant tending. He stepped outside, ears alert for any sign of danger, and checked up on the horses one last time. Finding the night quiet and uneventful, he returned to the house and latched the lock shut.

Marle was still awake when he carefully sat on the side of the bed to remove his boots. “You’re all right with sharing? I could…”

She rolled her eyes. “The bed’s big enough for two people, Eskel. I won’t have you sleeping on the floor when you’ve already put in a long day of work.”

Eskel shook his head. “I seem to recall getting a lot of help from someone with all that work.”

“Which is why I’m not sacrificing _my_ side of the bed to sleep on the floor either.” Marle stared at his profile as he settled into bed, his added weight causing the mattress to dip slightly, making both of them slide just a bit closer to the middle. “His name was Bjorn,” she said quietly. “I met him when I first went to study under an herbalist in Skellige. He was a huntsman who had been injured by a bear he had been trying to rid the village of and we just…”

She rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling. “I was too busy trying to learn everything I could, but he was so persistent and so sweet that I couldn’t resist him. He’d stop me to say hello or talk whenever he saw me in the village and would come by with extra meat from his hunts or handfuls of wildflowers and herbs that he thought I’d find useful.” She laughed. “I remember this one time, he showed up with a basket full of cuttings. The look on his face when I told him they were poison ivy…he had blisters on his hands and arms for days, and I felt so guilty that he had gotten them because of me. It didn't take much for him to court me once the ice was broken.  We were married the next year, and stayed married for five years.”

Eskel shifted to his back as well, his shoulder brushing hers. “What happened?”

“There was an accident. He left home one morning and never came back.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.”

They were quiet for a while, Eskel listening to the sound of her breathing. “You must have loved him greatly.”

There was a pause before she answered. “I did. I loved him very much. In a way, I still do.  You don’t get over losing someone like that; some days it just gets easier to bear the loss is all.” She shrugged her shoulders as she tried to find the words to fit how she felt. “There are days when it feels as if hearing the news that Bjorn had died was just yesterday.  Then there are days where I have to wrack my brain to remember what he looked like, or where I struggle to remember the sound of his voice.  When daily things push memories to the back of my mind, I can almost forget that I had ever been married. Those are the worst ones, and I feel so guilty for them."  Marle sighed.  "I don’t get to pick and choose when those days come; all I can do is work my way through the grief and trust that things will eventually be better. I’d be doing Bjorn’s memory a disservice if I only lived in the past and didn’t look to the future.”

She rolled to her side, her back facing him. Eskel listened as she quietly licked her lips, the sheets shifting as she tugged them close. “And Eskel?”

“Yes?”

“Just because I loved my husband and still hold him in my heart doesn’t mean that there isn’t room enough for you there too.” She looked over her shoulder. “I wanted you to know that.”

Eskel listened as Marle eventually drifted off to sleep. It wasn’t long before the sound of her heart and the floral scent that clung to her hair lulled him under as well.

* * *

 

Eskel’s eyes snapped open at the sound of someone running down the gravel path leading to the house. He had a moment where he didn’t know where he was: Marle was curled snugly against him, her back fitted to his front. Her head was pillowed by his left arm and his right held her tightly, their fingers intertwined. Marle jumped a few seconds later than he did, her hand going up to push her hair out of her face.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice groggy as she sat up when someone began to pound against their door. Eskel didn’t need candlelight to see how her blouse had slipped off one milk-pale shoulder and he had the strongest urge to ignore whoever was pounding on the door and nuzzle his lips there instead, potential danger be damned.

“Stay here,” he told her, getting up and pulling his sword out from underneath the bed. He crept to the front room, muscles tense and alert. He relaxed a bit when he heard Katya on the other side of the door.

“Please,” she said breathlessly when he opened the door, “my boy…”

Eskel could hear Marle shoving her feet into her boots, not even bothering to lace them all the way. “What’s wrong?” she asked, securing the ties to her pants. She was still sleep-rumpled, but he could tell that she was alert and in healer mode. “Has his breathing gotten worse?”

Eskel handed Marle the bag of herbs that he knew she would be looking for. “Do you need me to stay?” he asked as they quickly walked the short way to the main house. He didn’t know how much help he would be, but he heard the wet, rasping wheezing coming from the bedroom and knew that Marle would have her hands full.

Marle set the bag on the kitchen table and began pulling out herbs. “No, but thank you for the offer.” She paused long enough to cup the side of his face in her palm, her thumb caressing his cheek. “You should go back to bed and get some sleep. There’s a long day ahead of you tomorrow.”

Eskel closed his eyes and leaned against her hand. “I’m sorry for earlier,” he told her, his fingers curling loosely around her wrist. “I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories.”

“You didn’t.” She moved away and put the kettle on the hearth to boil. “But I did mean what I said, I hope you know that.”

He watched as she mashed up more herbs in the mortar she kept in her bag. “I do.” He was turning to leave when she called him back.

“For what it’s worth,” she started, eyes firmly on the bowl of the mortar in front of her. “I think he would have liked you.”

He nodded, not knowing what to say to that. Not wanting to be in the way, Eskel backed out of the house and walked back down the path.

He made another patrol of the property, the quiet countryside silence still unbroken. He checked on the horses, Scorpion giving him no indication that he sensed anything amiss. Sitting alone in the dark living area quickly became tiresome; he had to shake his head as he nearly jumped at any little creak or moan the old house gave as it settled on its foundations. Finally giving up, Eskel wandered back to the bed. Thinking to give Marle some room to slide in once she was finished caring for the boy, he scooted over to the side that she had been sleeping at.

It was a mistake. Even though she hadn’t been there long, the pillow still held the scent of her hair. The sheets may not have retained the warmth of her body, but it was easy for Eskel to imagine her there with him. He groaned as he deliberately gave a deep inhalation of her not quite floral, not quite herbal fragrance and closed his eyes. _There is room in my heart for you, Eskel_ , she had told him.

He fell asleep believing it.


	2. Chapter 2

Eskel woke to the sound of Marle’s voice softly calling out to him. Blinking, he sat up in bed and scanned the room, which was empty save for himself.

“Marle?”

“Eskel…”

“Where are you?”

“I’m outside, come join me!”

Frowning, he tugged on his boots and reached for his sword. The sky above was full of stars when he stepped out of the house, and the late night air set gooseflesh running across his arms. He scanned the area, ears straining to hear anything coming from the still brightly-lit main house. _Something is not right,_ he thought, hand going to his chest to still the very faint buzzing of his medallion.

“Eskel!” His attention turned towards the sound of Marle’s voice in the field up ahead.

“Come on, Marle, it’s late! We’ve got a big day ahead of us!” All he received was a laugh in reply.

He didn’t know how far she had led him until he saw the pond. By now, his medallion was jangling wildly on its chain and he readied his blade for a confrontation.

“Now now, don’t you think that’s a little unnecessary?” Marle asked, stepping out from behind a nearby tree. Eskel swallowed hard at the sight of her. She was barefoot and wearing what seemed to be only a thin robe, the material sheer enough for him to see the hazy outline of her body. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders like spilled ink and the moonlight filtering through the dense canopy of trees gave her skin an ethereal glow.

“What are you doing out here?” Eskel asked. He shook his head as if to clear cobwebs. There was something _wrong_ , but he couldn’t place it.

“It’s hot,” Marle complained, even though the cool night air made Eskel’s hair at the back of his neck stand on end. “All I wanted was a little swim.” She took a step towards him and the sword in his hand felt incredibly heavy. Little by little, his grip relaxed until the blade fell to the grass below.

“A swim would be…” he shook his head again, but his thoughts were foggy, muddled. “Nice.”

Marle smiled at him, lips rosy in the moonlight. “I thought so.” She reached out and smoothed her hands over his chest as she rose on the tips of her toes. It was so easy to bend his head to meet her halfway, her lips pressing sweetly against his own. The pent up longing he’d felt for who knew how long finally broke free and he clutched her to him, one hand tipping her jaw up for a better angle as his other arm hauled her as close as possible. She moaned as his tongue swept over her bottom lip before licking into her mouth, their panting breaths harsh in the otherwise stillness of the night.

He’d abandoned her mouth to latch onto the delicate skin of her throat when she pulled away from him. Before he could protest, Marle gave him a smile full of wicked promises, her hands going to the tie of her robe. Eskel watched, eyes hungrily roving over her body as the robe slipped off her shoulders, leaving her gloriously nude. She reached for his hands before he could put them on her and pulled him towards the lake.

Eskel gladly went under.

* * *

 

Marle yawned as she walked out of the main house. Little Galen’s breathing had worsened, but at least she had been able to get him to clear his lungs and spit up some of the phlegm that was rattling around and making drawing a full breath difficult. She’d frowned when she saw the dark yellow-green mucus land in a bucket they’d brought inside. Marle had spent years tending to similar ailments, but nothing had been quite like this. The phlegm itself had a brackish odor to it, almost like stagnant water. She didn’t want to voice her suspicions to an already worried sick mother, but she did ask Katya if Galen had been swimming in the pond recently. Naturally he had, but the last time he had been in the water had been before the first drowning. Katya had forbidden him from even wandering close by after the subsequent deaths. As Marle coaxed Galen to cough more to clear his airways, she wondered if the rusalka hadn’t indirectly gotten her hands on the boy, especially when he began to throw up what looked more like pond water than actual vomit. She’d have to confer with Eskel to be sure, but at least Galen was finally breathing easy on his own and had passed into a fitful sleep by the time she decided to leave and get some rest of her own.

Not wanting to surprise Eskel, Marle made as much noise as possible as she came closer, announcing her presence before opening up the door. And then she frowned. “Eskel?” Both the living room and the bedroom were empty. A quick check under the bed saw that Eskel’s armor and steel sword were still where he had left them, but his silver sword was missing. Something definitely didn’t feel right and she didn’t hesitate to pull out the crossbow that she had been practicing with along their journey. She’d had some limited experience with it before, but under Eskel’s tutelage her aiming had gotten a lot better. The crossbow bolts weren’t tipped in silver or dipped in any type of oil, but they were meant to slow whatever monster they came across down until she could come at it with either her magic or Eskel could take care of it with his blades.

The foreboding sense of wrongness grew even stronger when she heard Scorpion causing a ruckus as she exited the house and made her way towards the barn. “Easy boy,” she said, trying to soothe him. “You’re worried about him too?” Taking a breath, she tried to look at the night like a witcher would, but even though her night vision was decent, it was nowhere near being in Eskel’s league. Besides, even if she could see, she had no clue how to track people.

“My best bet is to investigate the pond. Katya said it was only a mile away.” With that, Marle held onto her crossbow with one hand and gestured with her other, creating a portal big enough for her to go through. She hoped that it was nothing, that Eskel was just doing some rounds and Scorpion was just spooked at being in an unusual place. But if it _was_ something…

Well, she just hoped that she’d arrive in time to help.

* * *

 

Eskel swam in the pond, hands reaching for Marle. She playfully kept her distance and he grinned underwater, only breaking the surface to come up for air. Belatedly, he cursed the fact that he had kept his pants and shirt on, because now that they were alone, there were so many things that he wanted to do with her. He laughed as he surfaced again, his hands catching her and reeling her in for a kiss, her long hair plastered against her face. He closed his eyes as he treaded water, Marle’s arms going over his shoulders and her legs wrapping around his waist. He didn’t think anything of it when she pulled them further underwater, never breaking the kiss. Only when his chest began to get tight due to lack of air did he move away. He motioned with his thumb to get them to come up, but all Marle did was smile at him.

And that’s when he noticed the gills. Enchantment broken, Eskel began to struggle in earnest, striking out with his fists to break away, but the rusalka’s grip on him only tightened the more he struggled. He tried his best to move them closer to the bank so that maybe he could grab a hold of the dirt and haul himself up, but it was all for nothing. Vision turning red and blurring, he made one last desperate grab for something, _anything_ , bubbles of precious air escaping from his lips.

And that’s when a dull noise, like something entering the water at a high speed, sounded on his right. Just as his vision went black and he could feel the last of his strength fading, something grabbed his outstretched hand and _pulled_.

* * *

 

Marle took a deep breath as she tried to haul Eskel up from the pond, but he was a waterlogged dead weight she was unable to budge. _No, no! Don’t think of him that way_ , she thought, panic making her heart race. She had arrived at the pond just in time to see the thrashing and the bubbles break the surface of the water before everything had stilled again. A magical ball of light floated over the pond, shining a brilliant white light over everything so she could see better. She’d prayed to every deity she knew as she took aim at the creature wrapped around Eskel’s limp body, and luckily her aim had been true. The crossbow bolt had hit the rusalka in the shoulder and she had heard it shriek in pain as it retreated, giving Marle enough time to grab Eskel’s hand and pull with all her might before he slipped deeper into the water.

Realizing that she didn’t have the leverage or the upper body strength to pull him up, Marle jumped into the surprisingly deep pond and tried her best to push him up onto the bank. She’d never had any luck summoning portals, or any other magic for that matter, under water and she cursed her lack of abilities as she tried to keep his head above water. The gods must have finally taken pity on her, or else she had found some adrenaline-fueled strength she’d been unaware of possessing, but she finally got Eskel’s unconscious body up and over the bank. She hauled herself out as well and then began to drag him by the arms further away from the water’s edge.

That was when the rusalka shot up from the pond. “You cannot have him!” she shrieked. “He’s _mine_!”

Enraged, Marle stood over Eskel’s prone body, magical energy vibrating all around them. “You’re wrong,” she growled, watching as the rusalka charged at her. Angrily thrusting her arms out, Marle found Eskel’s sword and channeled her energy into it. With a single slice of her hands, the blade shot towards the rusalka faster than the monster could dodge, lopping her head off her shoulders.

“He’s _mine_.” Not satisfied with a headless monster, Marle stepped forward, hands still stretched out in front of her. She pulled all her fear and all her anger close to her chest and then let it out in a near explosive conflagration of flame that engulfed the body and reduced it to ash.

As sudden as the flames had been summoned, they were gone and Marle crumpled to the ground, her still smoking fingers sinking into the grass beneath her. She coughed and wiped at her face, trying to stem the blood that trickled down her left nostril. “No.” She crawled back to Eskel, heart in her throat when she saw the shade of blue his face had turned. Digging in her reserves for some leftover strength, Marle hauled herself up to her knees.

“No, no, _no_!” she yelled at him once she felt at his wrist and throat and couldn’t find a heartbeat. She pressed the heel of one hand on the center of his chest and put her other hand on top as she performed chest compressions. She continued for thirty compressions before stopping and checking to see if he was breathing. When she saw that he wasn’t, she pinched his nose shut and sealed her mouth over his to breathe for him.

“I know a witcher isn’t supposed to die in his own bed,” she told him, panting as she started up compressions again. “But you don’t get to check out on me, not here, not now!”

Marle’s own breath was coming in panicked sobs. “Eskel, _please_!” she howled. “I can’t lose you too, not like this!” Her arms burned from both dragging him out of the pond and her attempts at reviving him and she could feel her strength waning, the overpowered display of magic sapping everything she had. She all but broke down in relief when Eskel’s back bowed and he took in one long, gasping breath on his own, his hands clawing up at his throat.

“You…” he rasped, weakly moving away from her as he coughed up water.

“Shh, don’t try to talk, just try to take some deep, even breaths.” Marle gently pushed him to his side and rubbed her hands over his back.  She felt him try to move away from her, his hand reaching out towards the nearby sword.  "It's me, it's Marle." 

Eskel tried to flip to his back, but his body felt leaden and weighed down. “Where is it?”

“Dead.” Satisfied that he was breathing fine on his own, Marle got up on shaky legs and picked up both the discarded crossbow and Eskel’s sword. “I cut her head off and then set her on fire.”

He gave her an approving look before dissolving into a weak fit of coughing. “Nice job.”

She knelt down next to him again and grinned. “Yeah. You should really think about putting me on your payroll,” she teased. She put a hand to his neck, relieved when she could feel his pulse beat against her fingertips. “Come on, let’s get you inside.”

“I don’t know if I can move.”

She closed his fingers over the hilt of his sword and took hold of his other hand. “Leave that to me.”

* * *

 

The portal landing wasn’t as graceful as her usual ones, but she was wiped out. She grunted as her shoulder hit the chair in the living area of their temporary house, her side smarting where she made sure to take the brunt of the fall. Eskel tried to roll to cushion them both, but he wasn’t in any shape to get more banged up than he already was.

Speaking of Eskel, Marle noticed how badly his teeth were chattering together. “You’re freezing,” she said, hauling herself up and staggering towards the bedroom. She yanked the sheets and blankets off the bed before weaving back to the living room floor. “It’s not the best accommodations, but it’ll have to do.” Leaving the bedding wadded up nearby, Marle didn’t bother with trying to magically coax the fire to life. Her head hurt too much to even attempt at summoning up the tiniest of flames. Stacking several logs onto the remnants of the warm coals and a little fussing later and there was a warm fire cheerfully crackling away.

“Come on, we have to get you out of these clothes,” she told him, kneeling again at his side and peeling off his wet shirt before moving to pull off his waterlogged boots.

He stopped her before she unlaced his pants. “Leave this part.”

“You’re soaking wet,” she argued, fingers already pulling at the loosened waistband. “I’m a medic; you don’t have anything in those pants I haven’t seen before a hundred times over.”

“S’different.” He mumbled, eyes already going heavy as she pulled his sodden boots off and worked his trousers down his legs. She could tell that he was fighting sleep. After draping a sheet over him for modesty’s sake, she tucked the thicker blanket around him for warmth. _This is a bad idea,_ she thought, but it didn’t stop her from smoothing her hand over his brow and using the very last dredge of magic in her reserves to cast a sleeping spell over him.

“Oh, damn it,” she muttered, clutching the left side of her head as a sharp pain lanced through her skull. Tiredly, she pulled her own clothing off and flung their things closer to the fire to dry. She was shivering too as she crawled under the covers and wrapped her arms around Eskel, hoping that the added heat of her body would be enough to get him to warm up.

Marle draped her leg over his hip as she tried to get comfortable. She lay there and watched the steady rise and fall of his chest, her ears listening for any remaining fluid in his lungs. Relief that she couldn’t find any sign putting him at risk for a secondary drowning merged with relief that he was still alive and she suddenly began to shake, the tremors having nothing to do with the cold. “Oh, _damn it_ ,” she whispered, holding him closer, eyes watering. She didn’t bother muffling the sobs that broke past her throat as she held him, her lips pressed against the side of his neck.

She fell into an exhausted slumber, her cheeks streaked with tears.


	3. Chapter 3

Eskel woke up disoriented, wondering just why he felt like ten shades of shit. He cracked open an eye and saw that he was naked on the floor in the house’s living room in a tangle of sheets and blankets. The fire had died down to embers and early morning light filtered through the closed shutters. The evening’s events quickly replayed in his head and he stiffened when he felt a hand on his chest. Looking behind him, he saw that Marle was curled protectively around him, similarly naked and sound asleep. Carefully turning to face her, he noticed that her skin was ashen pale and he spied the dried remains of blood crusted under her nose.

He felt immensely guilty when his movements woke her. “Eskel?” she asked, blinking as she woke.

His eyes widened in concern when he saw that her left eye was a bloodshot mess, as if several blood vessels had ruptured at once. That combined with the bloody nose told him that she’d pushed her abilities to the breaking point, and it had all been his fault. Without thinking, his hand reached out and cupped her face, his thumb running across her cheek. “Are you all right?”

Marle leaned against his palm. “I should be asking you that,” she told him. “How are you feeling?”

“You saved my life.” It wasn’t quite an answer, but he needed to tell her how thankful he was.

She gave him a tired little smile. “You would have done the same for me.” Marle touched the side of her neck where the katakan had ripped its teeth into her skin. “You _have_ done the same for me.” She tried to lighten the mood, flippantly adding “We really should stop doing this; using each other for bait on contracts like this is really –” whatever she said was cut off when Eskel leaned in and kissed her. She stiffened in surprise for a brief moment before melting against him, her arms wrapping around his shoulders. Eskel’s hand slid from her cheek down to her arm and lower before settling warmly at the small of her back, the pressure of his hand moving her closer to him.

“You saved my life,” he repeated, pressing his forehead against hers. “I would have died if you hadn’t been there.”

Marle closed her eyes tightly. “I couldn’t lose you, not like that.” She flattened her hands against his back and took a breath. “I know that I eventually _will_ ; there’s too many things out in the world that can kill either of us for me to believe that we can live in a little house happily ever after. It’d be naïve of me to think otherwise.”

Eskel’s hand smoothed over satin-soft skin until he could hook her knee over his hip. “At least we have right now.”

She nodded. “And that’s all that matters.” Marle tangled her fingers in his hair and tipped his face up for another kiss. “She looked like me, didn’t she?”

He huffed a little laugh against her cheek, his lips trailing down to her throat. “How did you figure that?”

“Why else would all the victims be married men? I figured that she took the form of their wives and lured them into the pond that way.” She gasped when his teeth scraped against her collarbone. “Besides, I’m going to be shamelessly vain and say that the only way you were able to get pulled under was because you couldn’t resist my charms, even if it hadn’t been _my_ charms, per se.” She laughed as he shifted her to her back and loomed above her, his eyes dark with desire.

“She _did_ look like you,” he confessed, eyes roving over her body. “Though she was a little off in her representation.”

“Oh? How so?”

Eskel’s hand ran up her ribs before ghosting over a breast, causing her to hiss out a pleased breath and arch into his touch. “You’re more beautiful than any illusion could ever be.” He leaned forward to catch her lips again, but turned his head when he was caught in a fit of coughing.

“As much as I love where we’re at,” Marle started, scooting out from under him, “I don’t think either of us is in any condition to follow up right now. Besides, the floor is really hard and there’s a bed in the next room.” Gingerly, she stood and picked up the blanket, wrapping it around her body for warmth. She looked at him from over her shoulder before going into the bedroom.

“This is a lot better,” he admitted, hand closing over her shoulder where he could see the beginnings of a bruise start to form. It had a sharp edge, just like the leg of the chair that had been closest to Marle, which made him believe that she had gotten it when they arrived via portal.

Marle nodded, hiding her yawn against him. She pressed her ear against his chest, satisfied when she couldn’t hear anything rattling in his lungs.

Eskel’s fingers were making idle patterns over her back when he broke the silence that had fallen over them. “He drowned, didn’t he? Bjorn?”

Marle was quiet for a beat before nodding. “He went out on a fishing boat one morning and a storm came out of nowhere. Out of the five men on board, only two ever washed ashore.” She sighed and curled closer to him. “There hadn’t been a body for me to bury or mourn over.”

“There’s a good chance that may happen with me as well,” he cautioned. “Are you…”

She lifted her head from his chest and nodded, pressing a finger against his lips. “I may not have thought that would happen to him, but I know what I’m getting into with you. You’re not the sort of person to fall into a life of settled domestic bliss, but honestly,” she leaned back so she could look him in the eye. “Neither am I. My restless feet mean that I’m not in one place long enough to set down roots and I like the way I’ve been living my life too much to abandon it.”

He brushed some hair that had fallen into her face out of the way. “No expectations,” he agreed. “Nothing has to change.”

Marle smirked and closed the gap between them to give him a long, lingering kiss. “Well, _some_ things can change,” she teased. “Some very _significant_ things.” She pointedly looked down his body, her fingers trailing over old, familiar scars and ridges of muscle.

“Get some rest,” Eskel said, pulling her close and tangling their legs together. “You’re going to need it later.”

She quietly laughed, lips brushing against his shoulder. “Promises, promises,” she muttered, even as she yawned and began to drift off.

* * *

 

It was late afternoon when they knocked at Katya’s door, their horses packed and ready to go. Marle had dressed and slipped out of bed earlier to check on Galen. As she suspected, with the rusalka dead, the boy’s illness had vanished as if by a miracle. Katya had wept as she embraced her, thanking her over and over for keeping her son alive. Luckily Galen’s turn towards better health was enough proof for Katya of their completed contract, seeing as the usual evidence was naught but a pile of ash and scorched grass close to the pond’s edge.

“Are you sure you won’t stay another night?” Katya asked. “The next village is a few miles away and it’ll be dark once you get there.”

“We’re sure,” Eskel said, watching as the boy played close to the house. “With luck, there may be another contract posted.”

Katya nodded, holding a small chest in her hands. “Speaking of contracts, your payment.”

Eskel glanced over at Marle before shaking his head. “Keep it. You’re going to need the money once farmhands come back to work for you.” He looked out towards the fields he had helped clear. “We’ll spread the word that your farm is safe again. This is a good place, people would be stupid to stay away.”

Katya clutched the box close to her chest. “I don’t know how to repay your kindness.”

He shrugged. “Just remember that not all witchers are the monsters the stories make us out to be. There’s a few good ones out of the bunch.” With that, he waited as Marle said her goodbyes to both Galen and Katya before helping her up on her horse, his hands lingering over her hips now that he knew he _could_.

“That was a nice thing you did,” Marle said as they rode off.

“Heh, they need the money more than we do.” He nudged Scorpion down the road back towards the last town they had ridden through. “Besides, would you have taken her money, even if she insisted?”

“No, I wouldn’t have. But really, you and I both know that there aren’t any notices on that board,” she told him.

“And _maybe_ I don’t want to go on a monster hunt just yet,” he replied, reaching out and holding onto her hand. Without looking away from her eyes, he brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

Marle didn’t even mind the fact that his lips curled into a smug, self-satisfied little smirk at the way her breath hitched. “And just what _do_ you want to do?” she asked teasingly, nudging her horse closer to Scorpion’s side. To his credit, Scorpion patiently kept up the slower pace without complaining about the close quarters too terribly much.

The look Eskel gave her was positively wicked and sent delicious shivers down her spine in anticipation.

“Whatever we want, Marle,” he replied. “Whatever we want.”


End file.
